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Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Prospective owner visits Manchester UnitedProspective owners of Manchester United have been told they have until 21:00 GMT on Wednesday to submit second, revised bids for the club as the takeover saga accelerates.
Just how strict this deadline is, and whether any other bidders emerge, remains unclear.
But BBC Sport has learned that United officials met eight different potential investors over a 10-day period of high-level meetings recently, and confidence is high that several could make formal offers.
It could mean that a ‘preferred bidder’ is declared by Raine – the investment bank conducting the sale – very soon, with it then granted exclusivity on the more thorough due diligence process that would take place.
It means the only two publicly-declared bids – Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim and Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe – will have had just a few days to consider the data and information they discovered last week during visits to Old Trafford and the club’s Carrington training complex.
Both parties are understood to have held positive meetings with United officials and both are thought to remain committed to a takeover and expected to make improved, more detailed bids.
But while the amount that both have so far offered has not been disclosed (with reports both are in the region of £4.5bn), they are clearly far below the £5-6bn valuation that the club’s American owners – the Glazers – have established.
Ineos want to buy the combined Glazer shareholding of around 69%, while the Qataris are targeting 100% of the club.
Whether they – or any other prospective bidders – are able to submit an offer that persuades the Glazers to sell is the next key question. If not, and with United’s fortunes improving significantly in recent months under manager Erik ten Hag, the Americans may well yet decide to retain the club and perhaps instead look to sell a minority stake to the likes of US hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.
Listen: How To Buy A Football Club podcastInterestingly, in a newly-released interview with the Wall St Journal that was conducted before last week’s visit to Old Trafford, Ratcliffe said: “What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently”, a clear signal that he is determined not to overpay for the club he says he supported as a boy growing up in Manchester.
He also said his interest in the club would be “purely in winning things”, calling the club “a community asset”, not a financial one.
Ratcliffe and his advisers will hope these sentiments, and his atte
Source: BBC Sport | Read More
